Slovakia Will Actively Work Towards Schengen Visa Liberalization for Armenia

The Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico met on Wednesday, January 31, with a delegation from Armenia led by the Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Ara Babloyan. The meeting took place in Bratislava, in the sidelines of the official visit of Speaker Babloyan to Slovakia.

During the meeting, PM Rice highly appreciated the liberalization of entry visa by Armenia for the nationals of Schengen Area and promised to Speaker Babloyan that Slovakia will actively work towards Schengen visa liberalization for Armenia.

The sides also discussed cooperation between both countries, and noted that Slovakia and Armenia have common values and objectives, which, according to Speaker Babloyan, should be preserved and further strengthen. He also highlighted the further activation of partnership between the governments of both countries which will hopefully lead to the deepening of friendly relations and improvement of cooperation in various fields.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister of Slovakia said he hopes that in future the trade turnover will rise and showed his support and the support of his country for Armenia, adding that both countries have very balanced relations.

During the discussion Speaker Babloyan talked about the issue of the settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh problem, underlining that balanced approach of the Slovak Republic on this issue is necessary, considering impermissible applying force to resolve conflicts.

PM Robert Rice confirmed once again that Slovakia is on the side of Armenia, including issues like the Armenian Genocide and Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.

Armenian National Assembly Speaker Ara Babloyan appreciated the Slovak National Council’s recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide, as well as the importance of criminalizing the rebuttal of genocides in the thwarting of such crimes.

Within the framework of his official visit to the Slovak Republic, the Armenian delegation led by Speaker Babloyan also met with President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska.

President Kiska and Speaker Babloyan among others discussed the Armenia – European Union Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed on November 24 in Brussels, regional issues, cooperation opportunities in various spheres and other issues.